I'll be there for you
by iheartyou07
Summary: [One shot] Summer is here, and instead of spending the day on the beach, Theresa has been feeling neglected. No one seems to notice that she even exists anymore. Who’s going to be there for her when she needs it? Full sum. inside. ArchiexTheresa


**Author's Note: **I know, I know, every time I start a JT fanfic, it doesn't turn out that way. I'm soo sorry. Blame jennieman, she wrote that amazing story 'A new Twist', and now that couple is stuck in my head. Oops, I think I've said too much!

**Summary: **One shot Summer is here, and instead of spending the day on the beach in happiness, Theresa has been feeling neglected. Atlanta's got a boyfriend, and no one seems to notice that she even exists anymore. No one even cared when she got really sick. Who's going to be there for her when she really needs it? I swear it's a lot better than what the summary says, don't listen to it! (I suck at writing them, if you haven't already noticed.) ArchiexTheresa.

**I'll be there for you**

Summer. For every other teenager, this is probably a synonym for freedom. They're free of studies, exams, useless note taking and of course, the oh-so annoying teachers. For them this is a time to slack-off and laze around all day, sleeping in until sundown and staying up until sunrise.

But for seven young heroes, summer took on a whole new meaning. For Jay, this meant they had to be on the watch for Cronus 24/7. There was no time for, say, having fun or just relaxing. When you're saving the world, who has time for useless stuff like that? And if Jay wasn't going to relax, then his team sure wasn't going to get a chance to either.

Theresa was happy for her, she really was. But this wasn't the first time in the past two weeks that Atlanta had canceled their plans for a date. Atlanta now had a boyfriend, Archie. And it was all a mistake, or well, an accident. Archie and Jay were talking about Archie's little crush, and it just so happened that Atlanta had over heard everything. They were going out ever since.

Actually, for the past two weeks, Theresa felt completely ignored, from everyone. Everyone seemed to be in their own little worlds, and it didn't seem as though they had enough room to spare her a spot there. Jay was even tenser then ever, and was always moody because he couldn't figure out Cronus' next move. Was that boy ever going to realize that she loved him? She wasn't going to sit around and wait forever, she would eventually move on.

Theresa was quietly making her way to the nearest movie rental store. Atlanta had promised she'd watch 'Step Up' with her tonight. (A/N: Sorry, I really feel like seeing that movie right now) Unlike what Archie was always saying about her, she really hated attention. Like when she'd walk down the street and need to cross at the light; she hated passing by all those cars, and all those people, knowing that they were watching her every move until she made it to the other side. She always tried to stay unnoticed, taking short cuts, or walked in bigger groups. Her thoughts were quite rudely interrupted by a whistling sound. She stopped and turned around only to find a group of boys sitting on their car, winking at her. You see, this is exactly what she loathed. She gave them the finger and walked away, over hearing one of the boys saying 'crash and burn man'.

After having rented the movie, she was silently making her way home, when it started to rain; hard. The usually warm raindrops that fell so softly that they were usually disregarded were now falling cold and hard on her body as she felt a headache coming along. '_Great, just great. And this happens the day I decide not to take my car._' By the time she had made it back to their brownstone she was completely wet, from head to toe. Not that anyone took any notice of this once she walked in. And once again, her greeting was left hanging in thin air.

She made her way to her room; she seemed to be spending a huge chunk of her day there. But before she had opened the door, she turned to Herry and asked him where Atlanta was. Maybe spending some time with her would make her feel better. But Herry had told her that Atlanta and Archie were at a party, and were going to be there all night. Yet again, Atlanta had broken a promise and a plan. She didn't even know why she thought this time would be different. Atlanta had no more time or room for her in her life now. Archie and world-saving took up most of it. She sighed, and turned around to enter the comfort of her room, feeling somewhat depressed.

It was at 12 that Archie and Atlanta arrived back home. Since Atlanta was currently half asleep, Archie carried her to her bed. But instead of making his way to his own, he only changed into his PJ's and went down to the living room. (A/N: Bet you thought he was going to get into bed with Atlanta!) Even though he was really tired, he just couldn't get to sleep, so he thought, like any other boy did, that late-night TV was the cure.

He arrived to their living room, only to find a movie already playing, and a sleeping Theresa on 'his' couch. He turned off the TV, and turned on the lights. Once he came closer to the red-head, he noticed that she was shivering. His eyes flickered to the table beside her, and he noticed a bottle of aspirin carelessly laying there. He wondered why Jay wasn't watching the movie with her; that guy loved to cuddle with her. But his mind went back to the fact that she was still trembling, even in her sleep. He got up from where he was seated and grabbed a pillow and covers from the closet. He was lifting her head to put the pillow under it when he felt his palm starting to sweat. She had a fever, and it wasn't a small one either. He didn't know what to do; he wasn't a doctor, nor a mother. She started to stir a little, so he backed away a bit. He remembered that she had probably taken the aspirin/medication for it already. All of a sudden he felt really lucky about being immune.

He just hoped she would feel better in the morning. Silently, he tip-toed out of the room, desperately trying to not wake her up.

Morning came, and Theresa was the last to wake up. In the living room, out of all places. Then she remembered watching the movie she rented, alone. She sighed, and looked down to find herself on a pillow with covers. But she hadn't brought these with her. She wondered who did. And with this new question in mind, she made her way to the kitchen for breakfast. She didn't even bother to say good morning to anyone, she knew no one would answer. She started to think that it was Jay, but her thoughts were interrupted by Archie. She wondered what she had done this time to get on his nerves, when she heard him ask a question.

"You feeling better?" He looked her in the eye, and she swore that he looked truly concerned for her.

"Why do you care? No one does." Her last comment was more of a mutter to herself, but Archie still heard it.

"Well, because you had a pretty bad fever last night." At that comment she looked up from her bowl of cereal and starred at Archie.

"That was you? The pillow and the covers? You? But I thought you hated me?" Theresa was still starring at Archie, but now it seemed in disbelief.

"I don't hate you… You're just a drama queen sometimes." He flashed her a smile, and she smiled back. The others were completely oblivious to their conversation, but they didn't mind. Theresa felt so much happier now that she knew someone actually cared about her, even if she wanted it to be Jay but it was Archie. But her happiness was quickly washed away with pain. Her headache was coming back, and it seemed to be worse this time. Archie watched her carefully as she dropped her head into her hands. This went on for minutes, and no one took notice. Eventually everyone left the brownstone for their own plans; again excluding Theresa. Odie and Herry were going to a new electronics store, and then hitting the new buffet downtown. Neil was out shopping and Jay was at the library, yet again stressing about Cronus.

Atlanta was telling Archie about the fair that was in town, and asked him if he wanted to go. But Archie really didn't want to leave Theresa alone in this condition, not that he told Atlanta this. But Atlanta wouldn't give up and begged him. He agreed, but was going to make sure he came back early. While he was waiting for Atlanta to get dressed, he told Theresa to take care of herself. She nodded and thanked him.

He didn't know why he felt so protective of her all of a sudden. Maybe it was because no one else was. It bothered him that Atlanta and Jay hadn't even noticed that she was sick but pushed those thoughts aside once he saw Atlanta emerge from her room. She grabbed his arm and pulled him out the door, laughing, leaving Theresa all alone and unnoticed.

When Archie arrived back he didn't find anyone around, It turned out that everyone was already in bed; oops, guess he stayed longer than he expected. His thoughts wandered to Theresa again, and he was wondering how she was feeling. He felt horrible for having left her alone, sick too. When he turned around, Atlanta was already gone, and in her room. He made his way to the kitchen and took out a packet of chicken soup from their cabinet. That's what his mom would always make him when he had a cold and he thought it might help Theresa. He put water to boil, and emptied the content of the package into the hot water. He put the bowl of chicken soup onto a platter and added some crackers too. He knocked on her door, but didn't expect anyone to answer, so he pushed it open. Theresa was asleep, but once the door opened, she started to stir and woke up.

"Archie? What are you doing?" She was still rubbing her eyes, what was Archie doing in her room… in the middle of the night?

"Thought you'd like some chicken soup for that cold of yours." She looked up at him, he rosy lips forming a grateful smile as he sat down on the edge of her bed and passed her the tray.

"Thank you. But you know you don't have to do this Archie" She looked up at him, and noticed that he was watching her.

"Well someone does, and anyways, you're my friend." Warmth filled Theresa heart and she was no longer trembling. Archie stayed with her until she was done eating, and even when she was he didn't really care because they were talking so much. He noticed her alarm clock flashing 12:02 in red, and he decided he should get to bed. Secretly, he would have loved to stay up later and finish their conversation. He never knew he and Theresa had so much in common. They had talked about everything possible, and he felt comfortable around her. As he started to get up, he noticed that she was starting to slowly drift off to sleep.

"Good night Theresa."

"Good night Archie. And thanks for everything."

"Don't even mention it."

The next day went on as usual. Everyone was up or out doing their own thing, and Theresa still had a minor headache and a cough. She stayed in bed until noon, and was making her way up when she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in" Archie walked into her room, carrying yet another tray, but this time it had a bagel with cream cheese, some cough drops and a cup of orange juice. Theresa couldn't believe Archie of all people was doing this for her.

"Archie, _what _or actually _why _are you doing this for me?" Theresa glanced from Archie to the tray, and then back to Archie.

"Shhhh. You need your rest, so shut up and eat. I'll come back later with dinner k?" Theresa nodded and silently ate her breakfast. So many things were running through her mind, and she was a relatively organized person, so this was driving her insane. She decided to take Archie's advice and get some rest.

Dinner time came, and so did Archie. (A/N: see, Archie can be sweet too!). When he came back to pick up Theresa's tray, he found her sound asleep. But that's not what caught his eye. It was a notebook, and on the front was neatly printed 'Journal' in a pretty cursive writing. It was Theresa's diary.

Eventually, after much debating with himself, curiosity won him over and he reached up to grab the intimate journal. He flipped through the pages, and one word, or well name, would always catch his eye here and there. He had seen Jay's name at least 2 or 3 times; on every page. But as he flipped to near the end of the journal, he noticed that Jay's name was appearing less and less until it was gone. _'Does Theresa not like him anymore?' _He turned to her last entry. Theresa had beautiful loopy writing.

_Dear diary,_

_What can I say? For two weeks I felt completely neglected. No one cared where I was, what I was doing, or even cared to include me in their plans. I guess now I could say that I am officially over Jay. Does he think I'm going to sit around and wait for him forever? Until he thought that he could make time for me? Or until Cronus is defeated? I just don't understand him anymore. One minute he's flirting incessantly with me, and the next I doubt he even remembers my name. Now he won't even give me the time of day. Unfortunately I'm still sick, and Archie seems to be the only one who took notice and actually cared. He's really sweet actually. And I'm happy for Atlanta; she's got an amazing boyfriend… I just wish she wouldn't ignore me. I'm starting to wonder, did I do anything wrong? Are they just giving some sort of a silent treatment? Or do they just not care about me anymore? I bet none of them would even notice if I packed my things and went home. Come to think of it, that's not too bad of an idea. I don't know what I'm feeling now. Angry? Jealous? Sad? All I know is that I'm confused. I swear if it wasn't for Archie taking care of me, I probably wouldn't be here anymore. I might have quit. I gue-_

Archie shut the diary. Guilt started to wash over him. What was he doing reading her diary? He put the book back on her night stand, and quietly left her room, new thoughts in mind.

'_I never really did notice that Atlanta hadn't been spending time with her. And Jay… what was his problem? He just lost Theresa, all for Cronus.'_

When he really thought about it, he felt different when he was with Theresa. He felt, well, he felt the way he did when he wanted Atlanta. But now he had her, and that feeling had washed away. Sure, he loved Atlanta, but for some reason, he didn't have that same passion for her the way he did before. Not anymore. And it was bothering him, a lot. He shook his head. What was he thinking? Atlanta was his girlfriend. But still…

Atlanta. Maybe he should go talk to her. But little did he know that Atlanta was looking for him too.

"Atlanta, hey." He found her seated on the living room couch, phone in hand. She looked up at him, it seemed as though she had something to say, something bottled up inside.

"Archie… we need to talk." Oh, he knew that line oh to well, and he had all those TV shows to prove it.

"Why?" He looked questiongly (sorry is that even a word?) at his soon to be ex-girlfriend.

"I've liked Michael for about 6 months now. And I never thought he liked me back… but now he called to ask me out…. And… well. I said yes." She turned her head around, she couldn't look at him. "And anyways, I think we're better off as just friends."

Surprisingly Archie didn't feel mad, or jealous. "You know what Atlanta, I think you're right." And he left the red-head alone with her thoughts. '_Well he took that a lot better than I expected.'_

The purple haired boy was making his way down to his room for bed, it was pretty late now, but he stopped when he heard the unmistakable sound of a crying girl. He knew it wasn't Atlanta because the cry was coming from Theresa's room. Without even knocking, he opened the door to find a sobbing Theresa seated on her bed, her back to him. He approached her until he was only inches away. He sat on the edge of her bed, and put a hand on her shoulder. She quickly turned around, and when she saw that it was Archie, she buried her face into his shoulder. Minutes went by with Theresa crying and Archie patting her back, or stroking her hair, trying to comfort her.

"Now Theresa, tell me what happened." Archie had turned her around, so that now she was facing him.

In between sobs I went downstairs for some water, and I saw Jay and Odie in the kitchen. They were talking about something, and holding some book. I went to ask them what they were talking about, and they wouldn't answer. They just continued as though they didn't hear me. And so I asked them again, and again, until I guess they finally got annoyed and told me to shut up. I know it's something stupid to cry about, but I just can't handle this anymore. Everyone hates me."

"I don't hate you."

"I know, and you don't even know how grateful I am for it… for you." She looked him in the eyes and he chuckled.

"Never thought I'd hear that about me."

"Archie, shouldn't you be spending your time with Atlanta, not me?" Theresa asked, wiping away a few stray tears.

"No… we uhhh… broke up."

"Really? Why? You two were so cute together…but you don't seem too sad about it."

"That's 'cause I'm not. I was probably going to anyways, but she beat me to it, thanks to Michael."

"Michael? Is she going out with him now?"

"Yeah. Hey, did you know about him?"

"I did, until she started to ignore me…"

"Ahh who cares." And they spent the rest of the night talking, until they both fell asleep.

Archie was the first to wake up. He found himself well, not in his room and not in his bed. Then he remembered that he spent the night comforting Theresa, and he must have fallen asleep. Theresa. He looked down to find his hand casually laying on her waist, her back to him. He quickly removed his hand as he noticed Theresa starting to wake up. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh… guess we must have fallen asleep. Sorry". He rubbed the back of his head uneasily until an idea popped into his head.

"Hey, how about I teach you how to ride a skateboard after breakfast? I mean you need the fresh air anyways"

"Sure! But... I've got to get dressed, so you're going to have to leave." She smiled as he made his way out the door.

(**A/N:** Okay, don't mind me, because I don't even know how to ride a skateboard, so I won't exactly know how to explain Archie teaching her how, so I won't. sorry.)

Archie grabbed his skateboard and took Atlanta's too since she wasn't home. '_Probably out with Michael.' _he though to himself. But his thoughts were interrupted when he noticed Theresa starring at him, a weird look on her face.

"What?"

"You seemed to be off somewhere."

"Nah, just thinking about how bad your going to be at this" He smirked at her.

"Haha. We'll see about that."

At the park Archie showed Theresa the basics. He held her hand and her shoulder as she silently struggled on the skateboard. They were so close now, that he could feel her warm breath on his neck, and she could feel his breath on hers.

Why was her heart beating so much faster? _'It's not like I like him or anything… do I?' _Actually Archie was wondering the same thing. _'Do I like-like Theresa?'_ He looked down at the red-head he was holding, steadying her on the skateboard. "Okay Theresa, I'm going to let go now." He let go of her, and watched as she rode quite well, until she was headed straight for a tree.

"Ahhhh! Archiiiieee! How do I stop this thing?" Theresa had now covered her face with both hands, expecting the worst, but it never came. Turns out Archie had grabbed her before she could hit the tree. "Thanks. God, I should just give up. I'm just going to hit something, like an old lady, or some cat, or a cute little bunny and then I'll get hurt and they'll get hu-"

But her rambling was cut off because Archie kissed her, and she kissed him back. When they broke apart, they were both blushing furiously, and Archie broke the silence that had fallen upon them. "It was uh…the only way to shut you up." He smiled his famous smile at her, and of course, she smiled back. They both knew it would be really awkward after this, so they decided to head home.

Days went by were Archie's little actions would make her heart skip a beat, were she would feel her blood rushing through her veins, and she couldn't figure out why. She always dismissed the option that she liked him, but everything would quickly point to that.

Archie was having the same troubles, and after much arguing with himself and his mind, he admitted to well, himself, that sure he probably did like Theresa more than a friend. But the question was, was he going to do anything about it?

Theresa and Archie were once again found in his room, in the middle of a conversation, or actually in the middle of Theresa talking. He didn't know what took over his mind and made him do this, but he did. He kissed her again, but this time their kiss lasted much longer.

"You know if you want me to shut up, you can just tell me to." Theresa was smiling now, despite all the blushing she was doing.

"Wanna go see a movie with me?" Archie asked his blushing red haired friend.

"What, are you asking me out now?" Now Theresa had a huge grin on. "I thought I was a drama queen."

"Yup, you're _my _drama queen." Archie grabbed her hand, and pulled her out of the brownstone. He got on his motorcycle and told her to hold on. And she did, quite snuggly too.

And they were going out ever since.

Summer was over before anyone even noticed that it started. School was a daily routine again. Everyone seemed to have snapped out of their little worlds from over the summer, and actually took notice of Theresa now. During the summer no one even knew that Theresa and Archie were going out. And they still didn't know.

And that's exactly why Odie, Herry and Neil were so surprised to see them cuddling while watching a movie.

"Wait. Let me get this straight. You guys are going out now? Since when!" Odie was completely shocked, but unlike the other two, he had found his voice.

"Since summer, but all of you were too busy to notice." Theresa smiled at this. Her summer had started out so horribly, but it had ended so well.

Later that day, Jay had caught Theresa alone, and he wanted to talk to her after hearing the news from Herry. He needed to know for sure.

"Theresa. Is it true?"

"Is what true Jay?"

"Are you really…going out with um… Archie" he asked, a sad look on his face.

"Yes, actually I am. Why?"

"Well, because... I love you." He just blurted it out; he didn't know what else to do.

"I'm sorry Jay, but it's too late. You ignored me all summer, and you weren't even there when I needed you most. Archie was. You had your chance, and you blew it. You were too caught up with Cronus. If you really do love me, then you wouldn't have let anything stand in the way between us, but you did. You let Cronus. I'm sorry." Theresa walked away. She left Jay lost in his own thoughts, regret being in most of them. She felt bad after doing this, but she wasn't going to dump Archie because Jay told her three words that could so easily be said. And they weren't going to make up for everything they did that summer.

Her mind flickered back to a conversation she and Archie had a while back. Archie told her he'd be there for her no matter what. And he stayed true to his words.

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_So, how was that? Blah, I think I ended it wrong. I'm sorry, I'm such a JT fan, but I don't know, I guess AT is really starting to grow on me. I promise I'll have a JT fanfic up soon. Please Review and rate. Tell me if I should watch out for anything when writing something, or what I could fix… Constructive criticism is always welcome, and appreciated. I hope this story actually made some sense… And I know the start is kind of boring, sorry. Well, hope you guys have a great summer! R&R, thanks!_


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